Principal Site Reliability Engineer

ABOUT THE ROLE

As a Site Reliability Engineer at Accela, you'll be part of a high-impact Cloud Engineering & Operations team working to ensure the availability, performance, security, and scalability of our SaaS offerings. Unlike traditional operations roles, our SREs are software engineers who apply development principles to system reliability—enabling automation, scale, and efficiency.

You’ll collaborate with DevOps, Security, and Database Engineering teams across the company, contribute to full-lifecycle software delivery, and play a key role in platform modernization and containerization efforts. This is a strategic role with room to lead, mentor, and shape our future cloud architecture.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and execute platform modernization and refactoring projects in alignment with CI/CD best practices and strategic goals
• Drive the full containerization of the Accela platform, including orchestration using Kubernetes or similar technologies
• Improve the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of systems by developing automation and infrastructure code
• Ensure the availability, performance, and security of Accela’s SaaS cloud services through proactive engineering and operational excellence
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and growth
• Perform deep troubleshooting during production incidents, conduct root cause analysis, and implement long-term corrective actions
• Act as a senior escalation point for high-impact incidents, complex deployments, and critical change management events
• Design, build, and maintain observability dashboards and key performance metrics to monitor system health and support data-driven decisions
• Effectively collaborate and lead cross functionally in a remote environment leveraging different collaboration tools (Teams, Slack etc)

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years in software engineering or production systems engineering, ideally in a SaaS environment
•  Proven leadership in platform modernization and containerized architecture (e.g., Kubernetes)
•  Deep experience with Azure cloud services and infrastructure (CLI/API usage)
•  Strong command of Git/GitHub and version control best practices
•  Expertise in troubleshooting complex, distributed systems (full stack)
•  Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code tools, particularly Terraform
•  Experience with Ansible or similar configuration management tools
•  Knowledge of scripting languages such as Bash, Python, Ruby, or Go
•  Strong understanding of system internals (OS-level) and system administration
•  Familiarity with production monitoring, alerting, and logging tools
•  Demonstrated experience using AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot) to enhance development
•  Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present to senior leadership
•  Strong problem-solving skills and systematic approach to incident management

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in Linux environments
• Experience with PowerShell
• Deep familiarity with Kubernetes deployments
• Experience with Cloudflare and Harness.io
• Hands-on experience with Python scripting
• Background in implementing and maturing Incident, Problem, and Change Management processes

ABOUT ACCELA For nearly 20 years, Accela has been an industry leader in designing and delivering government software to improve efficiency, increase citizen engagement and enable the development of thriving communities. Today, citizens are savvy to how services should be delivered, and expect a consistently convenient, openly transparent view into their local government. While government agencies struggle to do more with less, our mission has never been more critical. Accela provides a robust, cloud-based platform of government software solutions that accelerate growth, efficiency, and transparency in communities of all sizes. From planning, to building, to service request management and more, Accela’s SaaS offerings level the playing field for small and medium governments and enable smaller agencies to leverage larger city technologies. Our open and flexible technology helps agencies address specific needs today, while ensuring they are well prepared for the emerging challenges of the future.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION Accela believes in developing and nurturing a workplace community where our differences are celebrated, and everyone feels a sense of psychological safety and belonging. Accela is committed to putting resources and attention towards evolving our practices, policies, and philosophies to enable diversity to thrive and to support equity in opportunity for everyone.

COMPENSATION AND WELL-BEING The annual base salary range for this full-time position is $170,000-$190,000 (less applicable taxes). The actual annual base salary offered may be adjusted based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, location, education, skills, training, and experience. In addition to an annual base salary, this position is eligible for an annual bonus target. This is a discretionary bonus awarded based on company and individual goal achievement.

Accela’s U.S. team members will receive a generous benefits package consisting of options including flexible time off, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, family planning benefits, 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match, health savings account with company contributions, flexible spending account, life, accident, and disability coverage, business travel insurance, employee assistance programs, and other well-being benefits.

Accela is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer and will respond to requests for job accommodations.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, protected veteran status, or based on disability, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

#LI-MS1